Before you start to cringe, this post is going to discuss nothing more that your upgrade cycle. An "upgrade cycle," is the life cycle of a technology. It is the amount of time you hold on to a certain gadget before trading it in for the newer model. In a recent article published on TheGuardian.com, research firms have confirmed that tablet sales are starting to suffer... a lot. One possible explanation for this is that tablets might just have longer upgrade cycles than smart phones. Why is that? What determines your upgrade cycle?
I started to ask myself these questions as soon as I read the article. I, personally, have a iPhone 5S and and iPad 2. Something doesn't quite add up there. Why do I have the second latest iPhone model and the second generation iPad model? Granted, I did just get a Surface Pro 3 (love it, by the way), but even if I didn't, I have absolutely no interest in getting the latest iPad. As it turns out, a lot of people feel the same way. According to the sales records, tablets, in general, have a longer upgrade cycle than smart phones. What does that mean? While releasing a new iPhone every 12 months seems to be beneficial, people are much less likely to buy a new tablet every 12 months. In fact, a lot of research companies are starting to think that tablets have an upgrade cycle much like laptop computers (what even is that?).
I want to offer up a few explanations for this longer upgrade cycle from my own personal experience. I think that since the iPad is a larger technology (although not so much larger than the iPhone 6 Plus) and that the general connotation is that larger technologies need to be larger purchases and should occur less frequently. Think about it. How long has your family had their refrigerator? And if they just got a new one, how long have they had the one before? My refrigerator is 7 years old, and the one before it was from.... 1982. True, a refrigerator costs a lot more money that a tablet, but I think with the larger size comes a larger purchasing burden.
Another factor, I believe, is that people are not eligible for upgrades on their tablets every 2 years as they are with their smart phone. Therefore, people are not really catching a break by purchasing a new iPad or tablet. I am eligible for an upgrade every two years. So I would only have to pay $200 for the newest phone. My tablet is not on my cellular plan, so I would have to lay out the full retail value of the tablet when I want to purchase it. That, in a nutshell, is why I don't purchase new tablets.
All that being said, I think it is worthwhile to mention the impact of sociological and psychological research on the successes and failures of technology companies. A gadget could have the sleekest, most elegant design, and the fastest, most advance processor; but if the timing isn't right, or if the user interaction wasn't properly researched the gadget could be a flop (i.e. any windows phone). I think this speaks mountains for the human-sided aspect of technology. We treat different technologies differently for almost no reason other than that is the behavior we have decided is appropriate. We have began to build a report with technologies in a way that many people (many, MANY people) think is unhealthy, and I think that report is to blame for such phenomena as your phone and tablet upgrade cycles not syncing up.
This is a very interesting point. Tablets seem to be a bit younger in popularity to smartphones, so many trends on them are still forming. However I do believe tablets do not have the same "turnover" as phones. I just want to refine your comments as to why phones change models quicker than tablets.
ReplyDeleteTablets don't get the same plans or upgrades as phones because of the carrier and creator relationship. This all stems from the "2 year cycle" of a phone. I believe that the phone's cycle is very manufactured. Phone carriers and companies both profit from the continuing shuffle of phones. The creators get to sell more phones and the carriers get to send out more plans. This works for phones because the plans that they give are profitable enough to give phones away for free.
Tablets don't follow this model because it's my assumption that many people do not get the data plan for a tablet, but just use wifi. This means the only profit comes from the initial sale, and people are reluctant to grab a second tablet. This only helps the creator and the carrier cannot give away free tablets. To me, this is the main reason why tablet sales are failing. Your line about research companies thinking about tablets on a laptop timeline is a more proper approach to this discussion.